US Army Special Forces Tony Schwalm: Inside the Green Berets

Tony Schwalm is the author of 'The Guerrilla Factory: The Making of Special Forces Officers – The Green Berets.' Schwalm is uniquely qualified to tell the story of what it takes to forge unconventional warriors, as he helped redesign the very test of strength, stamina, and wits known as the Q Course, the Special Forces Qualifications program, which is the formal training program for entry into the United States Army Special Forces. Schwalm is a former lieutenant colonel with the U.S. Army Special Forces and his military career spans some 30 years. His journey has seen him transition from a tank commander in Operation Desert Storm (the first Iraq war) where he was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor, to becoming a Green Beret and later a commander of Special Forces officer training at Ft. Bragg. His assignments around the globe include leadership positions in combat operations, humanitarian missions, and counter-drug operations. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Tony served with U.S. Special Operations Command creating state-of-the-art technology architectures to support Special Operations Forces. From there, as a civilian working with the Department of the Army, Tony led a team of social scientists in support of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan, supporting counterinsurgency operations.

While much is known about the direct action-focused elements of the USA’s Special Operations Forces (SOF) such as the Navy Seals and Army Rangers, little is known about America’s unconventional warriors the Green Berets. The disparity in the attention given to these elite soldiers is no surprise given that much of the films, novels, and publicity generated around the exploits of America’s special ops is focused on the hyper-muscular actions of the special operators that fight the Global War on Terror (GWOT), the elite warriors responsible for short-duration strikes and other small-scale offensive actions, everything from eliminating high-value targets, raids and sabotage through to hostage rescue. And although the U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) have direct action capabilities, and are certainly involved in such missions more than at any time in history since the war on terror began 20 years ago, their formation by President John F Kennedy to wage “unconventional war”,” as they did everywhere from Vietnam through to Panama, is where their deadliest and most effective skill set lies. Unconventional Warfare is rooted in the concept of insurgency, guerilla warfare, subversion, and the use of these strategies in support of a country’s resistance movement, a proxy army that allows the U.S. to topple a dictator, occupying power or a hostile government. And, there is no force better at fomenting a foreign insurgency than the Green Berets, their training and legacy are borne out of an uncanny, almost preternatural proficiency in the art killing the enemy from within.

“Broadly speaking, there are two types of SOF, Super Man and Daniel Boone, Superman is what most Americans believe the SOF soldier to be – most Americans believe to be – a barrel-chested freedom fighter capable of bench-pressing twice his body weight and wielding lethal gadgets with an easy expertise. Most Army Special Forces soldiers, on the other hand, are more like Daniel Boone and they move very differently. We’re a group numbering around sixty-five hundred, and our primary mission is entirely different. That mission is unconventional warfare." - Tony Schwalm, The Guerilla Factory

Links:
The Alpha Human Podcast: http://alphahuman.org/tony-schwalm-ex-u-s-army-special-forces-inside-the-green-berets/
The Alpha Human Podcast on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/alpha-human-podcast/tony-schwalm
The Guerrilla Factory: The Making of Special Forces Officers, the Green Berets - https://amzn.to/30oLQiQ
United States Army Special Forces - https://bit.ly/2AnNZ3J
GREEN BERETS: REBUILDING THE GUERRILLA LEADER IDENTITY - https://bit.ly/3f80eA1
Arrowsmith Press - Tony Schwalm: https://www.arrowsmithpress.com/schwalm-column